Q: I want to start my own landscape design and build business but how do I carry out market research for this?
Sep 02 2006
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First of all you should work out what you want to know. A good place to start is to carry out a SWOT analysis (a review of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats). This will highlight areas you need to research. In particular you may want to know about your potential competitors, how they price and win work, how you can be different and so on. As well as researching the competitive environment and whether the potential market is big enough you may want to look at any other factors like health and safety, and any forthcoming environmental legislation.
Once you’re clear on what you need to know, you then have to find the market. A few obvious places to start are:
• internet search by key words for your area
• Thumb through the Yellow Pages as not all businesses are online yet
• Visit your local library and ask the librarian how best to find the information you need
• Business libraries have a wealth of information both in hard and electronic form, including reports, databases and trade journals (which are a good idea to subscribe to, budget-permitting)
• Getting friends and family to call your competitors as “mystery-shoppers” will help find out how customers deal with prospects and how they price
Finally, get involved with local bodies set up to help start ups like your local chapter of the Chamber of Commerce. If you know any other small business owners ask them for their thoughts. You could also try talking to journalists who write in the trade press as they will have a good take on the market.
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